


Wrap Me Up (In Kisses and Bows)

by dearwildflower



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: 3+1, Chanhee professional gift wrapper, Juyeon Panicked Gay, M/M, Mall AU, Mutual Pining, holiday fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:47:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28060374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearwildflower/pseuds/dearwildflower
Summary: Juyeon's crush on the cute guy who wraps gifts at the mall is notweirddespite Hyunjae's insistence. Juyeon just gets the nervous sweats around him... but it's fine! Because Juyeon has a plan.
Relationships: Choi Chanhee | New/Lee Juyeon
Comments: 1
Kudos: 47





	Wrap Me Up (In Kisses and Bows)

**Author's Note:**

> Let's count how many times I've written the word gift lol Here's another holiday story! I hope it's romcom-y enough to make you smile and entertain you for at least 20 minutes :)

“Yes!” Juyeon cheers. The line for the gift wrapping station isn’t as long today compared to all the other days he’s been there so he’s elated although his friends do not share in his enthusiasm. 

“There’s no need for this again, Juyeon.” 

“How many gifts do you need wrapped in one Christmas season?” 

“He just buys things when he gets here and rushes over to see _him_.” 

Younghoon and Eric simultaneously turn to Hyunjae with scrunched brows and Juyeon just about wails in betrayal.

“I told you to keep that to yourself!” He whines, landing a weak punch to Hyunjae’s arm that knocks the plaid scarf off his shoulder. 

Hyunjae continues after smirking evilly at Juyeon’s pout. “You see that pretty guy over there to the right?” He points over everyone’s heads towards the three staff members wrapping gifts at the front of the line. “Juyeon has a weirdo crush on him.” 

Offended at such an implication, Juyeon gasps. “It’s not a weirdo crush!” 

Hyunjae turns to his best friend with judgement clouding his features and crosses his arms. “So you staring at him and stuttering every time he wraps your fake gifts is normal?” 

Juyeon’s mouth opens and closes like a desperate fish out of water. Failing to defend his own honor, he turns to Younghoon with pleading eyes, willing his kindest friend to take his side.

“Sounds kind of weird to me.” Younghoon agrees which only makes Juyeon feel more pathetic. 

“It’s not weird!” Juyeon groans, arms flopping to his sides. “He happens to be very cute and I just... pay him to wrap my gifts!” _And yes, maybe I get a little nervous._

Eric chuckles, elbowing Hyunjae. “Because that makes it sound any better.” 

Juyeon pinches the bridge of his nose as his head falls back in exasperation. The overcrowded mall is causing Juyeon to overheat beneath his charcoal peacoat and as they inch closer to the front of the line- _closer to Juyeon’s eye candy-_ it only gets worse. 

“Look, he’s sweating!” Younghoon jokes, pointing at the lone bead of sweat falling from Juyeon’s hairline. 

“You know what?” Juyeon declares, smacking Younghoon’s bony finger away. He wipes his sweat and stands confidently. “You can mock me all you want. I don’t care because I have a plan!” At his full height, Juyeon peers over the crowd and steals a glance at the object of his affections who is leaning over the counter to ruffle a little boy’s hair. _Heartwarming_. 

“What is this plan, hyung?” Eric interrupts with the utmost curiosity. 

“I won’t jinx myself by telling you now.” Juyeon says, defiantly shaking his head. “Just watch and see.” 

But as fate would have it, the second Juyeon reaches the front of the line, gnawing at his lip in anticipation, gift wrap boy is called away for his break and replaced by another guy who highly pales in comparison and Juyeon is left to stare dejectedly as the beautiful blond boy walks away and his friends howl in laughter. 

  
  
  


Juyeon is determined though and returns the next day with his friends who are just as eager to see his plan come to life. This time when Juyeon gets to the front of the line he’s happily recognized. 

“Hey! You’re back!” The blond greets with a bright smile and Juyeon beams. “What do you have this time?”

Instead of putting his plan into action, Juyeon of course chickens out last minute and places the bag of cat food for Kevin’s new kitten on the counter. It was neither meant to be wrapped nor a gift but alas. 

“Oh? A present for your cat? That’s thoughtful.”

Juyeon is utterly grateful that the boy doesn’t comment on the oddity of the gift being wrapped and just takes it in stride. He watches as the cat food perfectly disappears beneath Santa themed wrapping paper. 

“Wow, you’re really good at this.” Juyeon compliments, thoroughly impressed as he inspects the neatly covered gift. He drops a few courtesy bills into the boy’s tip jar. 

With another personable smile the blond says, “Practice makes perfect.” 

“Yes, I see. Thank you...?” Juyeon drifts off, using this opportunity of verbal coherency to ask for his name. 

“Chanhee. My name is Chanhee.” 

Juyeon sighs internally. _Chanhee_. “Thank you, Chanhee.”

“You’re welcome, Juyeon.” 

Juyeon visibly startles, fumbling the bag of cat food. “How do you know my name?” 

The edge of Chanhee’s mouth lifts in amusement as he folds his hands together. “Of course I know my favorite customer’s name.” 

Juyeon’s breathing elevates as he simply gapes at Chanhee with heated cheeks. 

“Also, I’ve heard your friends call you that.” He giggles and Juyeon burns the sound into his memory. 

“Oh, right.” Juyeon chuckles nervously. “Well, thank you again. Have a good day!” He spends a few awkward seconds backing away, waving and smiling at the cute boy who calls out to him with a cheery “You too!”

“You didn’t do it.” Hyunjae says dryly when Juyeon walks up to them. 

Juyeon shakes his head slowly and glances towards the floor. “But I got his name! Chanhee.” He smiles dreamily to which Eric mutters a disgusted _ew, hyung._ “And he said I’m his favorite customer. _And_ he already knew my name.” He adds smugly. 

“We’ve only been here about ten times this week. He should know your name, creep.” Hyunjae comments snidely. 

Juyeon ignores him and basks in the approving pats Younghoon gives his bicep. “Maybe he’s into you too.”

“I don’t think so.” Juyeon answers humbly. It’s best to keep his expectations low. “He probably says that to everyone.” But a flare of hope still bubbles in his stomach. 

  
  
  


Juyeon finds himself at the mall again for his third attempt half a week later because contrary to Eric’s beliefs Juyeon _does_ “have a job” and he _does not_ “practically live at the mall.” He comes armed with excuses and reasons as to why he keeps visiting the gift wrapping station instead of just investing in a roll of paper of his own, but Chanhee asks no questions, only humors him and wraps all of his gifts without hesitation. 

“I wish someone would get me a gift.” Juyeon replies when Chanhee playfully mentions that Juyeon has more gifts to wrap than the average customer. 

Chanhee drops a big iridescent white gift bow onto his matching blonde hair and smiles prettily. “There. I’ll be your present.” 

As much as Juyeon would have loved to say something witty and charming in return, he doesn’t. In fact, no words come out of his mouth; no laugh, no smile. He downright malfunctions, awkwardly freezing in place except for his heart that’s beating erratically in his ribcage. 

Chanhee removes the bow slowly when he doesn’t receive a response. “It was a joke...” He says quietly, looking embarrassed which alarms Juyeon because he knows it was a joke! It’s just that his blood pressure skyrocketed so much he thinks he had a mini stroke and now he’s incapable of functioning all because a beautiful boy, his _favorite_ boy, offered to be his gift and _oh how Juyeon wishes that could be true_. 

“I-I know- um.” Staring into Chanhee’s wary eyes does nothing to prevent Juyeon from panicking. “I-I have to go.” He says hastily and pivots, stalking away from the gift wrapping station. 

Hyunjae just about kicks Juyeon’s ass when he hears what happened. 

“ _You_ are the biggest moron.” Hyunjae rolls his eyes and then settles his hands on the younger’s shoulders tightly. “Look. You are going to march in there tomorrow, walk right up to him and ask him out. That’s it. I refuse to let you look like the village idiot anymore.” 

“But-”

“No buts! You’re doing this. Mostly because you’re pitiful and I don’t want to keep driving to the mall. Parking is horrible this time of year.” 

  
  
  


And thus it takes Juyeon a total of four tries to complete his plan. On Friday afternoon, after drilling Hyunjae’s advice into his head, Juyeon walks right up to the gift wrapping station and boldly bypasses the entire line. 

“Hey! The line starts back there!”

“Get in line, cutter!” 

“Security!” 

Juyeon calmly holds up his free hand and addresses the harsh public. “Everyone relax! I’m not here to disturb the peace. I’m just here to deliver a gift!” 

Turning towards the counter, Chanhee’s expression is overflowing with surprise, and reasonably so. After his meltdown yesterday Juyeon wasn’t sure he could ever show his face again, but for the sake of his plan, he thrusts the square gift box he’s been carrying around with him into Chanhee’s hands. 

“This is for you. Sorry about yesterday. I was… weird.” He laments genuinely.

“I’m sorry too.” Chanhee responds but Juyeon rushes to stop him from apologizing. 

“No, no! You don’t have to be! I’m the idiot,” He admits, frowning a little. “But um,” He clears his throat and gestures towards the gift. “Don’t open it now or anything. Wait until later.” 

Chanhee gazes at the medium sized box. It’s poorly wrapped and nothing compared to Chanhee’s skills but it’s wrapped with love and to Juyeon that’s all that matters. 

“Okay.” Chanhee accepts and shyly smiles. “I’ll open it later. Thank you.”

Juyeon presses his lips together and bashfully rubs his neck. 

“If you guys are done, there’s a line still waiting here.” 

“Oh!” Chanhee jumps and quickly stuffs the gift beneath the counter. “Sorry!” He calls to the line and waves at Juyeon with what Juyeon thinks is a faint pink blush on his flawless cheeks. 

  
  
  


Saturdays during the holidays are the worst days to be at the mall and yet that is exactly when Juyeon shows up hoping to get an answer from Chanhee. The gift Juyeon had given Chanhee held three layers of boxes all of diminishing sizes and within the smallest one was a note. It’s the contents of the note that make Juyeon most nervous. He isn’t sure if his supplied answers are too forward, but it’s worth a shot. 

Arriving at the center of the mall where the gift wrapping station is located, Juyeon peeks around the line. Chanhee must have been looking out for him because they quickly make eye contact and Chanhee waves him over. The area is so ridiculously packed with people that Chanhee can only yell _Meet me at the food court in fifteen minutes!_

Juyeon somehow secures a table at the stuffy food court and sits surrounded by crying babies, loud children, and grumpy adults. People wade in and out but Juyeon waits. 

And waits. 

Fifteen minutes turns into forty minutes and Juyeon starts to think he’s been stood up until he remembers that Chanhee is too kind of a person to do that. Around the forty-five minute mark when he sees a baby vomit all over her mom, Juyeon concludes that Chanhee must be too busy and he should come another day. He disappointedly gazes around the area in hopes of seeing the blond through the hordes of people but to no avail. With his tail tucked between his legs, Juyeon drags himself to the mall exit. There is always tomorr-

“Juyeon!”

Juyeon raises an eyebrow and glances around. Is he crazy or did he hear someone call his name? 

“Juyeon, wait!”

He stops walking and turns around confused, getting all of five seconds before Chanhee comes barreling into him. Juyeon catches him, and receives the surprise of his life when suddenly a pair of warm lips are eagerly pressed against his own. 

“How’s that for an answer?” Chanhee smiles, out of breath and beautiful. His hair is tousled from running and the tips of his ears are rosy. There are pieces of gift wrap and gift bows clinging to his shirt and Juyeon is enamoured by every aspect of it. 

“It’s perfect.” Juyeon answers, smile as bright as the sun stretching across his face. He leans down and recaptures Chanhee’s lips paying no mind to the people pushing past them in their Christmas shopping haste. 

  
  
  


Juyeon finally goes home a winner that night with a light heart, thoroughly kissed lips, a bit of gift wrap to remember the moment, Chanhee’s phone number and the promise of a date in the near future.

“Weirdo crush you said?” Juyeon taunts when he’s relaying the day’s successful events to Hyunjae over the phone. He fingers the piece of gift wrap and smiles. “Not anymore.”

* * *

_Go on a date with me?_

_a. Yes_

b. A

c. Kiss me?

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! happy holidays :)


End file.
